What am I doing here? No seriously, why have I started or begun a blog at my age, just 46 days away from my 50th birthday? Fifty, 50. It looks the same and means the same in letters or numerals, I don’t look at 50 with any foreboding but like a holiday that is already booked and organised I don’t really feel excited or get in holiday mode until I’m sitting in the airport departure lounge and relaxing. So I’m still in 49 mode, at least for a few more weeks anyway and fifty is coming come what may and I’ll be fifty by May anyway. But if I just peer over the horizon of 50 there are certain looming concerns which might just accelerate the thought process from young to middle aged, from irresponsible to responsible or mildly interesting to quite dull. My dad’s dad died at the age of 70 from an angina attack. My dad had a heart attack aged 56, a mild stroke aged 58, angina by the age of 60 and a triple heart by-pass by the age of 62. So turning 50 could spell a fairly traumatic decade (albeit with a few healthy years in hand) but hopefully my post baby-boomer healthy lifestyle may hold me in good stead and get me through my 6th decade unscathed. After all, my dad is well any truly alive and kicking aged 83 and my brother has already made it to 52 with no major issues – although a vegetarian diet and aversion to alcohol may have helped! So perhaps turning 50 will encourage me to make a few lifestyle changes to see me over the finishing line with many miles still to run. Thecgreat news is; my son is still only 13 and my wife is 7 years younger than me and we have a great marriage – there is plenty to stay healthy and active for and she has plans for a grand tour of the world when she turns 50 herself so as long as I can still walk and pull a case we have stuff to really look forward to.

Does that explain why I’m here? My wife would probably say I am here in part due to some mid-life crisis no doubt and maybe I am. Fact is, from the age of 11 I used to keep a hand-written diary, faithfully recording the trials and tribulations of my pre-pubescent life. On it went for a few years with more and more entries being missed, days completed 2 weeks hence trying to remember who I’d been out playing football with or whether I visited the toilet that evening, home from school. I seldom look back at these diaries which are stashed away in a cupboard somewhere with their coloured hard-backs and Letts logo but after a brief and disastrous dabble with some blog site or other 10 years or so ago I thought I’d give it another go. So here I am. Will I be faithful after all these years, recording the daily routine of my life, sometimes all by myself, sometimes in the company of my family in others? Frankly I don’t know but I do rather care at the moment so I’ll just give it a lazy ‘we’ll see’ for now.

That’ll do for starters, I’m waiting for C to return from Tesco then I’m going to whip up an Italian chicken dish with peppers and a bottle of Gruner Veltliner for company. Well, wine does you good, doesn’t it?